Guiding attachment for sewing-machines.



A. H. DE VOE. GUIDING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION IIIQI'ID JULY 25, 1911.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

WITNESSES.

A TTORNE Y A. H. DE VOE.

GUIDING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1911.

hl fifigm Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

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ALBERT H. DE VOE, F WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB. TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CO'RPURATION OF NEW JERSEY.

GUIDING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Application filed July 25, 1911.

button and buttonhole strips to mens and womens garments, especially those made from knit fabrics.

In the manufacture of garments from knit fabrics, it has been the common practice to.

first fold and stitch the facing strip, and at a second operation apply it to the garment. The present invention provides means for folding, stitching and securing the facing strip at a single operation.

1n the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a view in perspective, in front end elevation, of a portion of a sewing machine bed-plate and bracket-arm equipped with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the strip-folding guide-plate. Fig. 3 is a plan View of the strip-folding guide. Fig. 4t is a plan view of the fold-positioning blade and its carrier. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the strip-folding guide slide-plate. Fig. 6 is a rear side elevation of the cloth presserfoot with the cap-plate removed. Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the rocking cloth-pressers. Fig. 8 is an edge view of one of the cloth-presser carriers, together with screw and check-nut for limiting the rocking movements of the cloth-presser. Fig. 9 is aplan view of the integrally-formed feeddogs. Fig. 10 represents one form of product effected by the present invention.

As the stitch-forming mechanism and the mechanism for actuating the integrallyformed feed-dogs may be of any suitable construction, the latter mechanism has been omitted and only so much of the former shown as is essential to an understanding of the application of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Serial No. 640,424.

the front end portion of the bed-plate of a sewing machine, 2 the like portion of the bracketarm, 3 the head of said arm, -i the needle-bar mounted in said head and provided at its lower. end with complemental eye-pointed needles, as 5, and 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 the integrally-formed feed-dogs.

11 represents the commonly-employed spring-depressed oloth-presser carrying bar mounted in the head 4t and carrying at its lower end the cloth-presser bracket 12 provided with guideways, as 13, in which are slidablymounted the cloth-presser carriers 14 and 15, provided with the respective notches 16 and 17 into which the respective ends 18 and 19 of the equalizing rock-lever 20 extend, said. lever being pivoted upon a screw 21 threaded into the bracket 12.

To the horizontally arranged arms 22 and 23 of the respective carriers 14 and 15 are pivotally attached by pins, as 24, the respective rocking cloth-pressers 25 and 26 provided with the usual needle openings, as 27, each of said cloth-pressers being provided with a toe portion, as28, and having its front end upturned, as at 29; and into each of the carriers 14 and 15 is threaded a screw,

as 30, adjustable with respect to the upper surface, as 31, of the respective cloth-pressers to control the extent of rocking movement of the latter, said screws being held against accidental adjustment by nuts, as 32. A cap-plate 33, secured by screws as 34: threaded into the bracket 12, acts to hold the elements 14:, 15 and 20 against accidental displacement. 35 represents the throat or needle-plate secured by screws, as 36, to the bed-plate 1, and 37 the strip-folding guide p{ate secured in like manner to said bedp ate.

The strip-folding guide for folding the longitudinal edges of the facing strip comprises the folding scroll plate 38 at the opposite edges of which are formed the folding scrolls 39 and 40, and between the flanged portions of said folding scrolls, and slightly above the plate 38, is secured, in the present instance by soldering, a tongueplate 41 having an extended tongue portion 42 which coacts with said folding scrolls to form the folds at the opposite edges of the facing strip.

43 represents a bracket secured, as by soldering, to the underside of the plate 38 and provided with lugs 44 and 45- having suitable openings into which is loosely mounted the rod 46 provided with openings in which are secured by screws, as 47, the opposite ends of a wire frame 48, said rod being torsionally held by the spring 49 in the direction indicated by the arrow 2?.

To the side of the folding scroll 40 is secured, as by soldering, an attaching plate 50 provided with openings, as 51, through which eXtend suitable screws (not shown) threaded into openings, as 52, formed in the strip-folding guide carrying plate 53, which latter is mounted in the guideway 54 formed in the bed-plate 1, the movements of said carrying plate in the direction of the feed of the fabric being limited by the shoulder 55 contacting with the wall 56 of the lug 57 forming a part of the strip-folding guideplate, and in the opposite direction by the shoulder 58 contacting with the wall 59 of said lug.

60 represents a fold-positioning blade secured by screws, as 61, to the flattened end 62 of the foldpositioning blade carrier 63 mounted loosely in the opening 64 (shown in dotted lines only, Fig. 3) formed in the guide-bracket 65 secured by screws, as 66, to the attaching plate 50, collars 67 and 67 secured by screws, as 68, acting to limit the movements of said fold-positioning blade in opposite directions in line with the feed of the fabric.

69 represents a scroll-guide bracket pivotally mounted on the stud-screw 70 threaded into the bracket 71 which, in turn, is secured by screws, as 72, to the cloth-presser carrying bar 11, a spring metal plate 74 secured by screws, as 7 5, to said bracket acting against the inner sideof the head of said stud-screw to frictionally hold said bracket in its raised position, the lug 7 6 determining the'limit of its downward movement. Upon a stud 77 riveted into the bracket 69 and extending out from the inner side of said bracket is pivotally mounted one end of a scroll-carrying lever 78 carrying at its free end a scroll guide 79 andintermediate its ends a holding screw 80, which latter acts to rigidly secure said scroll-carrying lever with respect to said scroll-guide bracket, and 81 represents an adjustable stop or registering plate pivoted upon a screw 82 and held in its adjusted position by a screw 83, said stop coacting with the screw to register the delivery end of the scroll-guide 79 with respect to the vertical line of needle actuation when moved to its lowest or operative position.

The operation of the improved mechanism for efiecting the product illustrated is as follows :The cloth-presser is first raised in the usual manner to its elevated position,

' the strip-folding guide and fold-positioning blade are adjusted away from the line of needle actuation to their limit of movement,

and the scroll-guide is swung upward, as shown in Fig. 1, followed by passing one end of the facing strip 83 into the opening 84, between the folding scroll plate 38 and the overlying plate 41 and tongue 42, and out through the delivery end of said strip-folding guide, thus forming the folds 85 and 86 at the opposite edges of the facing strip. hen inserting the facing strip as pointed out, the end thereof is carried beyond the delivery end of the strip-folding guide sufliciently to lay the fold 87 (shown in dotted lines only, Fig. 10), which is formed by first moving the fold-positioning blade upon the strip-folding guide to the limit of movement controlled by the collar 67, when the end of the facing strip is folded back over the ends of said strip-folding guide and said fold-positioning blade and held beneath the loop 88 of the spring-controlled wire frame 48, followed by the adjustment of said stripfolding guide and fold-positioning blade into operative relationship with the stitchforming and cloth-feeding mechanism, the limit of said adjustment being controlled by the shoulder 55 contacting with the wall 56, which positions the free end 42 of the tongue 42 in front of the limit of backward movement of the feed-dogs 7, 8 and 9 and between the feed-dogs 6 and 10, and the extended portions 89, 90, 91 and 92 between the feed-dogs 6 and 7, 7 and 8, 8 and 9, and 9 and 10, respectively, or in position to cause the needles to pierce the fabrics at the respective points indicated by the circles 93 and 94, Fig. 4, thus securing said fabrics against displacement when the fold-positioning blade is returned to its inoperative position before commencing the stitching operation.

The body fabric 94 is positioned under the cloth-presser so that the stitching operation will commence at the end 95 (shown in dotted lines only, Fig. 10) of the facing strip, with the edge 96 of said fabric in the folding scroll 96 of the scroll-guide 79, when the latter, the cloth-presser foot and the needles are moved to their lowest positions and the fold-positioning blade to its inoperative position, at which time the stitching operation is commenced and continued to within a short distance of the edge 97; the machine is then brought to rest, the strip-folding guide returned to its inoperative position, and the facing strip severed on a line corresponding to the groove 98 formed in the strip-folding guide-plate 37, when the fold 99 is manually formed and the stitching continued to the end of the facing strip. The cloth-pressers 22 and 23, through the action of the lever 20, act to equalize the pressure on the four plies of fabric in which the edge seam is formed and the three plies of material in which the inner or right hand seam is formed.

It will be observed that in effecting the product herein illustrated the extended portion 100 of the feed-dog 6 is not effective for the reason that the folded edge 96 of the fabric is directed just inside of the vertical wall 101 of said extension; but should the present construction be employed to attach the facing strip to the body fabric at the side 102 of the opening 103, for which provision is made by supplying the necessary scrollguide and scroll-carrying lever, the extension 10% of the feed-dog 10 would be ineffective while the extended portion 100 would act upon the fabric.

In the manufacture of certain of the finer grades of garments, it is common to bind the edge, as 96, of the fabric before applying the facing strip, which dispenses with the use of the scroll-guide 79; accordingly, the present invention does not, of necessity, in clude the latter element. It will also be understood that While the compensating clotlrpressers are desirable for the purpose pointed out, they are not essential to the practical operation of the invention.

Having thus set. forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is 1. In a strip folding and guiding attachment for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide mounted on the bed-plate of the sewing machine and provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip and with means for permitting the laying of a fold across the end of said facing strip first to be presented to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, and means including a foldpositioning blade having movements in directions corresponding to the line of feed for presenting said facing strip to the action of said mechanism.

2. In a. strip folding and guiding attachment for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip and including means to permit its adjustmen with respect to the line of needle actuation to accommodate the laying of a fold across the end of said facing strip first to be presented to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, means for holding said end fold against disarrangement, and means for presenting said fold to the action of said stitch-forming mechanism.

3. In a fabric guide for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide provided with oppositely arranged folding scrolls, a tongue eX- tending out from between said folding scrolls and over which the end fold of a facing strip may be formed, a fold-positioning blade, said strip-folding guide and fold positioning blade being adjustable with respect to the stitch-forming mechanism to accommodate the laying of said end fold over the free ends of said tongue and fold-positioning blade, and means for holding said end fold against disarrangement as it is advanced to the action of said stitch-forming mechanism.

l. In a strip folding and guiding attach ment for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip and including means to permit its adjustment with respect to the line of needle actuation to accommodate the laying of a fold across the end of said facing strip first to be presented to the action of the stitclrforming mechanism, means for presenting said facing strip to the action of said mechanism, and a stripfolding guideplate secured to the bed-plate of the sewing machine and provided with a groove for permitting the convenient severing of the facing strip in lengths to meet the requirements of the fabric being faced.

5. In a strip folding and guiding attachment for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide carrying plate slidably mounted in a suitable guideway to move parallel with the feed of the fabric, a strip-folding guide secured to said strip-folding guide carrying plate and provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip and with means for permitting the laying of a fold across the end of said facing strip first to be presented to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, and means including a fold-positioning blade having movements in directions corresponding to the line of feed for presenting loo said facing strip to the action of said mechanism.

6. In a strip folding and guiding attachment for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide mounted on the bed-plate of the sew- 105 ing machine, said guide being provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip and including means to permit its adjustment with respect to the line of needle ac- 11o tuation to accommodate the laying of a fold across the end of said facing strip first to be presented to the action of the stitch-for ing mechanism, means for presenting said facing strip to the action of said mechanism, 115 and compensating cloth pressers for effecting a like pressure upon the superposed plies of fabrics comprising the oppositely arranged longitudinal folds of sald facing stri 7. In a strip folding and guiding attachment for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide mounted on the bed-plate of the sewing machine and provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip and with means for permitting the laying of a fold across the end of said facing strip first to be presented to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, means including a fold-positioning blade having movements in directions corresponding to the line of feed for presenting said facing strip to the action of said mechanism, and an adjustably mounted scroll-guide for presenting the body fabric to the action of said stitch-forming mechanism.

8. In a fabric guide for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide plate secured to the bed-plate of the sewing machine, a stripfolding guide carrying plate mounted to slide in a suitable guideway formed in said bed-plate, a strip-folding guide secured to said strip-folding guide carrying plate and provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip, means for permitting the laying of an end fold in the facing strip, a foldpositioning blade carried by said strip-folding guide carrying plate for presenting the end fold of said facing strip to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, and a resiliently depressed fold-retaining member for holding the end fold of said facing strip against disarrangement as it is moved into operative relationship with said stitchforming mechanism.

9-. In a fabric guide for sewing machines, a strip-folding guide plate secured to the bed-plate of the sewing machine, a stripfolding guide carrying plate mounted to slide in suitable guideways formed in said bed-plate, a strip-folding guide secured to said strip-folding guide carrying plate and provided with means for folding the oppositely arranged longitudinal edges of a facing strip, means for permitting the laying of an end fold in the facing strip, a foldpositioning blade carried by said stripfolding guide carrying plate for presenting the end fold of said facing strip to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, a resiliently depressed fold-retaining member for holding the end fold of said facing strip against disarrangement as it is moved into operative relationship with said stitchforming mechanism, and a scroll guide adjustably secured to the clothresser bar for presenting the body fabric to said stitchforming mechanism.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT H. DE VOE.

Witnesses:

JOHN D. BARR, H. A. KonNnMANN, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G. 

